There are plenty of cooking knives for sale on late night TV. You’ve seen the info-mercials. These amazing knives cut aluminum cans and shoes! I’ve been cooking for a long time, and I’ve never had to cut a can or a shoe. What makes this the test of a great knife?
I saw a TV commercial that offered a 26 knife set. It came with 12 steak knives. Again, when has anyone had to cook steak for 12 people in there home? Rarely, I’d say.
You don’t need an entire set of knives to be a great cook at home. Nor do you have to spend a lot of money on cooking knives. You need only 4 basic knives in your kitchen:
1) Chefs Knife - The chef’s knife will complete 80% of the cutting tasks in your kitchen and will eliminate every chopper/dicer device sold on TV. It has no moving parts, it wipes clean easily, and with the proper technique, is the safest instrument in your kitchen.
The chefs knife has a tapered blade, wider at the heal and thinner at the tip. Rather than slam the knife against the cutting board repeatedly to chop items, the best was is with a “tip-fulcrum” method. This is where the tip of the knife stays on the cutting board and rocks back in forth with the heal doing the cutting.
2) Serrated Slicing Knife - This is a long knife with a serrated edge or “teeth”. You might call this a “bread knife”, and it can certainly be used for bread. This knife is used for items that the downward weight of the chefs knife would crush, like tomatoes or slices of bread.
The slicing knife is best used with one long stroke. Just because it has teeth doesn’t mean you should use it as a saw. One slice makes an more certain and attractive cut.
3) Boning Knife - This is a 5 to 7 inch knife with a thin blade and a sharp tip. It’s used ONLY for raw items. This is the knife for removing the fat from chicken breast or the silverskin from cuts of meat.
The boning knife should be the sharpest of all your cooking knives and used in a single, smooth stroke to avoid giving raw products a “hacked-up” look.
4) Paring Knife - A 3 to 5 inch small knife that’s used for peeling, skinning, or close-up carving of vegetables. It’s the only knife used with the sharp blade held toward your face. Items are pushed past the blade with the thumb of your knife hand.
Imagine cutting the green caps off strawberries. You’d set the knife against the crown of the berry and push the fruit under the blade to remove the cap.
If you are impressed with cooking knives that cut cans or shoes, you really need to get a better night’s sleep. If you are looking for the proper tools to take your cooking from fair to fantastic, then just the 4 basic knives I’ve mentioned will have you well on your way without spending a lot of money.
See Chef Todd’s cooking knives video as he demonstrates live!
Chef Todd Mohr is attacking a topic that most chefs won’t touch with 10 foot tongs, the fact that RECIPES DON’T WORK! His online cooking lessons are empowering home cooks with the knowledge of HOW to cook, not just WHAT to cook.